Police Chief To Meet With Blue Hills Residents

Blue Hills neighborhood residents will have a chance to state their concerns to Hartford's new police chief, Bruce P. Marquis, at a Problem Solving Town Meeting today from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Oak Hill Auditorium.

The Blue Hills Civic Association and the Blue Hills Neighborhood Revitalization Zone are co-sponsors of the meeting.

City Manager Saundra Kee Borges also has been invited, along with heads of city agencies, such as the health and licensing and inspection departments, whose work involves cooperation with police and elected officials.

The Blue Hills Civic Association has drawn up a list of problems -- many suggested by block groups -- including the lack of full-time community service officers and the frequency with which foot patrol officers in the commercial area are dispatched to other parts of the city.

The chief also will be asked to address such issues as persistent drug trafficking; speeding and the need for ``traffic-calming'' speed bumps; and illegal overnight parking of heavy trucks on residential streets.

Also on the list are such problems as parking by churchgoers that blocks intersections and neighbors' driveways, and a lack of enforcement of parking bans during snowstorms that results in badly plowed streets with cars plowed in. The need for reduced speed limits on residential streets and alternate-side parking on two-family blocks with limited off-street parking are also on the list.

The Civic Association has worked with neighbors and block clubs to address many of the problems on this list, and it concludes that what's lacking is a determination by the city and the police department to enforce existing laws.

Residents will also have an opportunity to call attention to other problems in their immediate areas, and ask Marquis and other officials to respond.

Access to the Oak Hill Auditorium is by the Blue Hills Avenue gate opposite Westminster Street, or by the Holcomb Street gate. The building is handicapped-accessible.

For information and directions, please call the Civic Association at 860-286-8081 weekdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., or leave a message on our answering machine at other hours.

In Hartford's Neighborhoods publishes pieces --up to two double-spaced typed pages -- about community activities or life in Hartford. To submit a piece, please mail it to Carole Goldberg, The Courant, 285 Broad St., Hartford, CT 06115; e-mail it to cgoldberg@courant.com; or fax it to 860-241-3865. For information, please call 860-241-3999.